Information on Pertinent Topics and Issues in Injury Law

Single-Vehicle Car Crashes May Leave Many Questions Unanswered

Toyota/Lexus Recalling 3.8 Million Cars Over Defective Floor Mats

Speed Contributes to Fatal Motorcycle Crash in Hampton

Are Uninsured Drivers Causing Higher Rates of Injuries and Deaths On Interstate Highways Than the Insured?

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Sold Vehicles Without Air Bags

Enterprise Rent-A-Car chose profits over driver safety when they opted to exclude a standard safety feature from a fleet of Chevrolet Impalas they purchased between 2006 and 2008.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the nation's largest private buyer of new cars and seller of used cars, made the move in order to save $11.5 millions of dollars in costs, according to the McClatchy newspaper.

The company rented out and eventually sold these vehicles devoid of side-curtain air bags. These air bags have proven to be effective in preventing or decreasing severe injury in car accidents. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will require all automakers to equip vehicles with side curtain air bags by 2013, according to consumeraffairs.com.

Even more distressing is the fact that it was discovered Enterprise advertised the Chevy Impalas as featuring the air bags when the vehicles actually failed to have them.

As an injury lawyer who's represented clients seriously hurt in car accidents and written about personal injuries in an accident with a rental car, I find it appalling Enterprise made such a deceptive move. The company put their customers at risk and failed to alert them to the risk they were taking.

 "I've never seen a standard safety feature removed from a vehicle," said Sean Kane, a manager for Safety Research & Strategies Inc. "That's what's so unique about this. I've been doing this work for 17 years and, until now, had yet to see this happen."

Enterprise needs to issue an apology to their customers immediately and an investigation should be conducted to find out if any other vehicles were sold or rented without proper safety features.

More importantly, consumers who have a choice when renting a car, should use the ultimate economic weapon-that is rent a car from a car rental company that supplies an air bag for a comparable rental cost per day or week.

When a consumer is injured in a rental car, and the wreck is caused by a negligent driver, that careless driver's insurance company must provide the liability insurance.  However, we all know that the chances of suffering a more serious injury increase, without one or more air bags in a car.


About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), near the NE North Carolina (NC) border and handles car,truck,railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.

 

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Car Accidents, Fatalities Down in Virginia (VA)

Flipped SUV Kills Driver in Chesapeake

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), near the Northeast North Carolina (NC) border. Lawyers with the firm practice primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handle injury law cases, including car, truck and railroad accidents, medical negligence cases, and more. The firm’s website is hsinjurylaw.com. Lawyers with Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton also edit the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard and have compiled a video library covering many FAQs on personal injury subjects. The firm’s lawyers are licensed in VA, NC, SC, WV, DC and KY.

Cycling Safety Instructor- Bruce Rosar- Killed in Accidental Collision With Vehicle While Cycling

Bruce Rosar, a North Carolina NC resident and active cycling safety advocate was killed early Saturday when his bicycle collided with an oncoming vehicle. Bruce Rosar was traveling on South Salem Street and Apex Peakway in Apex, North Carolina NC when his bicycle collided with a vehicle in the street.

 The sudden loss of safety advocate Bruce Rosar shocked and saddened both residents of Apex as well as the cycling community of North Carolina NC as a whole. Bruce Rosar was a founder of the NC Coalition for Bicycle Driving, a director of the North Carolina Active Transportation Alliance, and the education officer for the NC Bicycle Club. Several members of the cycling community of North Carolina NC as well as friends and family of Bruce Rosar have come forward to create a cycling memorial in Rosar’s honor where the car accident occurred.

 According to the Apex, North Carolina NC police department the car accident occurred before noon on Saturday July, 13th 2009. The initial police investigations shows that Bruce Rosar was making a left turn at the intersection of South Salem Street and Apex Peakway in Apex when his bicycle crossed in front of a motorist. The motorist struck Bruce Rosar, resulting in his untimely death.

 The Apex, North Carolina NC police department took a statement from the motorist on the scene and will be completing their final investigation in to the car accident in the coming weeks. However, all preliminary reports in Apex indicate the car accident was a case of unfortunate miscalculation on behalf of both Bruce Rosar and the motorist, whose name has not been released to the public.

 The loss of Bruce Rosar is being felt by cycling communities and safety advocates worldwide. Within hours of release of the car accident details by the Apex, North Carolina NC community a large outreach of support was being felt both online and off. Several cycling communities throughout North Carolina, NC as well as through out the U.S. are already working to immortalize the life of Bruce Rosar and further spread the knowledge of cycling safety.

 According to BicycleSafe.com their are several key things cyclists can do to avoid fatal collisions like these. First, equip your bicycle with all the necessary equipment such as a headlight, a loud horn, and a helmet. These items will go a long way in helping other motorists to notice you on the road. Second, bicyclists are advised to stay on the roadways and off of sidewalks and pathways. Several car accidents have been caused by cyclists entering from a sidewalk to a roadway. Finally, cyclists are advised to simply slow down.

Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), with an office also in Elizabeth City, in Northeast North Carolina (NC), practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our Carolina injur law website is: http://carolina.hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard and also hosts a YouTube injury law video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.

Scary Wrecks on Interstate 64 (I-64) Headed to Williamsburg, Virginia (VA)

As a personal injury lawyer, I pay a lot of attention to driver behavior on the road and the cause of car crashes as I drive around Virginia.  I am also especially careful about driving and avoiding highway collisions when I have my daughters and son in the car with me.  Recently I was driving my twin girls to a lacrosse game in Williamsburg, VA from our home in Norfolk when I saw a tremendous backup for miles around Yorktown.  I tried to go slowly and be patient but wondered what was the cause of this stop and go traffic on a Saturday afternoon.  It turns out that two cars had collided (one read-ending the other) on Interstate 64 (I-64) near the Lee Hall exit.  By the time I got up to the wreck, the police were on the scene.  From the best I could tell, these two drivers could have gotten their cars off to the broad shoulder or emergency turnoff section of the freeway.  Instead, they and the police were blocking the left hand lane and causing the traffic to come to a trickle to get past them in the one unblocked lane.  I am not sure what the problem was.  Drivers in automobile accidents should move their vehicles off the road to a position of safety, particularly after the police get there, if it is possible to do so.  This is better for traffic flow and for the safety of those involved in the wreck.  We got to the game just about on time and found out that it was delayed even further because the opposing team, which was coming from the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina, was running even later than we were because of the same accident.

            For some reason, that Lee Hall area on Interstate 64 westbound headed towards Richmond, Virginia and Williamsburg is a very common place for collisions and injuries.  Amazingly, later that same day as we were headed back down the road in the opposite direction, I see across the median at nearly the same place as the earlier accident a pickup truck pulling a camper that goes out of control and turns over on its side.  I could not tell what was the cause of this frightening looking accident, but was glad that my vehicle was not anywhere in the zone of danger when that person lost control of their rig which jack-knifed and was sitting broadside to the traffic in both lanes on the highway.  Defensive driving is always needed because you never know what the vehicle next to you or ahead of you will do.

Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), near the Northeast North Carolina (NC) border, practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. The firm's website is: hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard and also hosts a video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.

Crowded Virginia Highways Mean More Car Accidents

The heavy traffic on the roads in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Hampton and Newport News, Virginia (VA) are at least in part the result of the ports bringing in lots of big rig trucks, moving containers, and tourists coming to local attractions like our beaches and Colonial Williamsburg.  As a personal injury lawyer from the area, I know that a significant percentage of the serious injuries which will occur in our community involve either tractor-trailers or out of state drivers who are vacationing here.  The truck and car collisions are not always the truck driver’s fault. Sometimes it is the car’s driver that is not paying enough attention and failing to realize the difficulty that a tractor-trailer has maneuvering on crowded interstate highways like on Interstate 64 (I-64).

       Likewise, the tourists who may be lost or driving a bit slow on the highway may not be the one who negligently causes a wreck with injuries.  It can be the impatient commuter who is driving from Virginia Beach into downtown Norfolk on Interstate 264 (I-264) who is the at-fault driver. Regardless of the cause, everyone needs to realize that our roads are at or beyond capacity and there is no fix from the state government in Richmond, Virginia anytime soon.  So we all need to drive defensively and recognize that we have to share the road not only with our neighbors, but also with the 18 wheelers who move the cargo to and from our thriving ports and the family from Pennsylvania who is coming to see the sites in our great part of the world in southeast Virginia.

High Point, NC driving while intoxicated (DUI?DWI) car accident involving a minor sends three people to hospital with injuries

Fireman Critically Injured in Colerain, North Carolina (NC) Car Accident, Suffers Blunt Trauma to Legs, May Require Amputations

My colleague, wrote an article on the northeast North Carolina Injuryboard blog about a terrible car accident that severely injured a Bertie County, North Carolina (NC) volunteer fireman, responding to an accident, when a car crashed into him at the scene of the first accident. Read the full article about the car accident.

Texting While Trucking: A Deadly Practice

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), near the NE North Carolina (NC) border. The firm handles car, truck, railroad, medical negligence cases and more. Our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service. Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton’s lawyers are licensed in VA, NC, SC, WV, DC and KY.

The Ramifications of a Closed Head Injury/Brain Damage

A closed head injury is a term used to describe trauma to the skull without cracking or breaking it open. It's also connected to brain injury. Each year, roughly 570,000 people suffer a closed head injury, according to e-medicine.

The mortality rate of someone who suffers a closed head injury is 30-to-50 percent and those who do survive can incur neurological trauma and may never be the same person or possess the same cognitive abilities. Basically, they suffer brain damage.

As an injury lawyer who's represented clients suffering from the after effects of a closed head injury, I know an injury like this can irrevocably change not only the victim's life, but his or her family's life as well. The brain damage can be devastating.

Here's a video illustrating the challenges of recuperating from a close head injury...

People commonly endure a closed head injury and/or brain injury from a car accident or fall. However, it can also occur when playing sports, riding your bike, or working. In these particular settings, you may not even know you've suffered a closed head injury until hours, or even days later. Even if the skull is not fractured, the brain can collide with the inside of the skull and become bruised. The head may look fine, but complications could result from bleeding or swelling inside the skull, according to Medline Plus.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), near the NE North Carolina (NC) border and handles car,truck,railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.

 

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Parents' Broad Duty to Protect Others' Children Affirmed by Virginia (VA) Supreme Court

Surgeon Suspended after DWI Charge causing Ballerina’s Death

9yr Old Cary Resident Killed by Car In Skateboarding Accident

On Saturday afternoon in Cary, North Carolina a nine-year-old boy was hit and killed by a vehicle while skateboarding, according to police.

The nine-year-old, Ravindra Kalipershad was leaving a driveway on his skateboard in the 100^th block of Council Gap Court when he unavoidably rolled in front of a Toyota Highlander, Cary police Lt. Randall Rhyne said.

Lauren Miller of 105 Council Gap Court, driver of the Toyota stopped immediately after the incident. And is cooperating with police, she has not been cited.

To prevent this from happening drivers must:

1. Yield to pedestrians when crossing a sidewalk or entering an alley or driveway.

2. Yield to pedestrians who have started crossing at an intersection or crosswalk on a “walk” signal or a green light, if there is no walk signal.

3. Yield to pedestrians who are crossing the highway within a marked or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection where there are no traffic lights or control signals.

4. Not overtake and pass any vehicle that stops at an intersection or crosswalk to permit a pedestrian or bicyclist to cross the roadway safely.

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Charlotte Pedestrian Struck and Killed by Car

Bus-Car Crash in Virginia Beach Leads to Injuries